An indispensable part of the WorldBuilding process for an epic fantasy world or SpaceOpera universe is a timeline showing when all the events described in the stories and back stories happen, and how many days, months and years pass between them.

They go nicely with a FantasyWorldMap, and often make appearances in {{Universe Compendium}}s and {{Universe Concordance}}s.

See also TheTropeHistoryOfTheUniverse. And check out our GrandUnifiedTimeline and our {{Timelines}} index.----!!Examples:

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[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* ''The Unauthorized Chronology of the Franchise/TheDCU'' [[https://web.archive.org/web/20160308235308/http://dcu.smartmemes.com/index.html]], despite being unofficial, does a '''much''' better job of sorting out the continuity of Creator/DCComics than the company itself has despite having had THREE massive {{retcon}}s in less than 20 years precisely for that purpose.

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[[folder: Film ]]

* ''Franchise/StarWars'' [[http://www.starwarstimeline.com/]]* ''Franchise/PlanetOfTheApes'' : 'Timeline Of The Planet Of The Apes', an unofficial book by Rich Huntley

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[[folder: Literature ]]

* Tolkien must have loved doing these, which kept turning into narrative on him. The Tale of Years in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' appendix is an excellent example, covering all major events of the Second, Third and early Fourth Ages. The Annals of Valinor and Annals of Beleriand cover events from the creation of the world to the end of the First Age, but Tolkien never completed a definitive revision of them. The omission of official chronologies from ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' led Robert Foster to compile his own for ''The Complete Guide to Middle-earth'' from the few relative dates in the text. Tolkien's actual drafts were published in the ''History of Middle-earth'' series.* ''Literature/ForgottenRealms'' [[http://www.o-love.net/realms/fr_time_notable.html]]** Forgotten Realms had an ''entire sourcebook'' for this in late 3.5. It even included the first time Elminster crossed over to Earth and told 'Ed of the Greenwood' about the Forgotten Realms!* ''Literature/{{Eberron}}'' has one in the Campaign Setting book which list from when the world is created to present (2 years after the Last War).* The SF stories of Creator/CordwainerSmith are connected by a chronology covering more than 14,000 years of future history. Sadly, the official chronology was lost with the author's notebooks; it has mostly been pieced together by fans.* A fan timeline for ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' can be found [[http://www.lspace.org/books/timeline/dw-timeline-intro.html here]] (up to ''Discworld/TheFifthElephant'', so it misses the explanation for any oddities provided by ''Discworld/ThiefOfTime'').* A brief one is present in the back of some of Creator/MikhailAkhmanov's ''Literature/ArrivalsFromTheDark'' and ''Trevelyan's Mission'' novels (same 'verse). The timeline always starts with the formation of the [[SpaceNavy United Space Forces]] by the leading nations of Earth in 2054 and ends with the events of the given book (''The Defender'' currently has the most up-to-date version, dating up to 2950).

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[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* ''Franchise/StarTrek'' has a timeline on the ''Ex Astris Scientia'' fansite [[http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/history.htm here]],** There is also the official ''Star Trek Chronology'' book, the second edition of which went up to Season 4 of ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' and Season 2 of ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''.* ''Series/DoctorWho'' had an unofficial ''Terrestrial Index'' by Jean-Marc Lofficier, which gave the history of the Earth (original series only, since it was published in 1991), and ''Ahistory: An Unauthorised History of the Doctor Who Universe'' by Lance Parkin, the most recent edition of which is complete up to Series 6.

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[[folder: Video Games ]]

* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' finally had its official timeline divulged with the release of ''Literature/HyruleHistoria''. As a testament to the series' ContinuitySnarl, it involves three {{Alternate Timeline}}s.* ''Franchise/MassEffect'' has one in the in-game EncyclopediaExposita, which thoroughly explains details and the previously unanswered.* ''VideoGame/OdinSphere'', by virtue of being really non-linear storytelling, being told in non-chronological order, and mixing it up with TheRashomon, has this as a ''flowchart''.* Although a much shorter version, ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' has one in the end credits.* ''VideoGame/HaloWars'' has a Franchise/{{Halo}} Universe Timeline, though it is far from complete. Mostly only events relevant to the game itself along with some character backstories and details about the early years of the Human-Covenant War. There are also a few major events from the original ''Halo'' trilogy.* A major part of ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}''' UniverseCompendium, ''Perfect Works'', is dedicated to showing the game's sprawling history and timeline.* ''VideoGame/EscapeVelocity Nova's'' is detailed in [[http://www.ambrosiasw.com/assets/files/graphics_products/evn/preambles/nova_preamble_1.pdf an external PDF file]].

* Takara has produced a definitive [[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Generation_1_cartoon_timeline_(Japan) timeline]] of the Japanese G1 ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' continuity (which is not the same as the American continuity); This includes the ''[[Franchise/TransformersGeneration1 G1]]'' cartoon as well as ''Headmasters'', ''Masterforce'', ''Victory'', ''Zone'', Kiss Players, ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'', ''Anime/BeastWarsII'', ''Anime/BeastWarsNeo'', ''WesternAnimation/BeastMachines'' and ''Robot Masters'', and which also tries to jam in ''[[Anime/TransformersRobotsInDisguise Robots in Disguise]]''.** Oddly enough, because of its... unusual choices and elements either made up exclusively for it or only briefed touched upon in obscure, [[NoExportForYou non-translated]] Japanese stories, this may be one of the few examples of a timeline that makes things that much ''more'' confusing.----